10.

Surrender to Me

I'll Eat You Alive

Even though it caused pain to ricochet through her body, Diamante couldn't stop herself from heaving for air, her throat raw from screaming. Sweat glistened along her entire body, mixing with the blood that remained from her latest session with the good doctor. He was able to control the collar at her throat to allow her to heal sections of her body, like her stomach or internal organs, but preventing her from changing enough to fight back against him.

"It's truly fascinating! Your internal organs change into diamond as well, but you can't see them when your stomach isn't cut open. It's almost like whatever's exposed to the air just becomes the outer shell to hide what's inside. I'd imagine your bones are much the same," Dr. Jace was rambling, cleaning the knives and other tools that he'd used to cut her open and pry apart her flesh.

Diamante didn't even have the will to make a sound, her eyes closed with heavy fatigue as she tried to push aside the burning agony that stemmed from her insides. He hadn't given her sufficient time to heal properly—it was only enough so that she wouldn't die, but now she was weak. Swallowing carefully, her mouth dry and throat sore, the woman finally cracked open her eyes when he stopped talking. He was standing next to her, smiling as softly as he always did, with her blood staining his once white coat and gloves.

"I wish the men who'd made you were still alive; I have so many questions. Is it true you don't remember killing them?"

The fact that he kept asking her questions when she was physically incapable of answering made her eyebrow twitch. Jace seemed to catch the movement and let out a joyous laugh, leaning away.

"Ah, yes, I keep forgetting. No matter, it's all in your file anyway."

Then why the fuck did you ask? Diamante thought venomously, repressing the urge to roll her eyes and letting them fall closed instead. She wanted to sleep, but even if he allowed her to, she greatly disliked the thought of putting down her barriers any more than they already were in front of Jace. Perhaps she should stop healing herself. If he cut her open and left her with the expectation that she would heal, she would probably bleed to death or die from the trauma of having her body cut open with her organs poked and prodded.

"Can you regrow things, I wonder?"

Eye snapping open, Diamante met with Jace's slightly wide ones. Excitement glistened in his gaze, while Diamante's hardened at what he was insinuating. She's been forced for days to live through him cutting open her torso, her limbs, even her face, to look at how things worked beneath. Sometimes he would clamp the wounds open so that when she shifted that particular place into diamond, it couldn't heal. It would try to, and cause deep pain like her skin was pulling against the clamps in the effort to close.

Jace tapped a bloody, gloved finger against Diamante's cheekbone. "Maybe an ear?" he pondered, speaking more to himself than to her. "Or your tongue? Oh…teeth!"

You even try it, I'm biting your fingers off and eating them.

"Maybe we should start with something simple, a finger or toe, perhaps?" His fingers moved down, caressing along the back of her hand. Immediately, Diamante's hand became a tight fist in reaction to his touch as her icy glare followed him as he stepped back from her. "Now, now, I'm trying to be fair," he defended, actually pouting, before he moved down to stand at the end of the metal table she was strapped to. He'd come to realize that the gurney wasn't enough when cutting into her—she was susceptible to fits that brought some of her strength back and nearly tipped the gurney over with her thrashing.

She tried to jerk her leg back when his touch came to her feet, tracing along the tendons atop her right foot, between her toes and underneath her bridge. The leather straps across her shins prevented her from doing more than shifting her feet from side to side when rotating her ankle.

"Hold still, dear," he warned, digging his thumb roughly into the underside of her foot's arch. A hiss sounded through the gag as her body tried to rip itself from his grasp before she even though about moving. "If you're going to be like that, maybe I'll move on to something else?" When his touch fell upon her next, he was using her blood to trace a line between her breasts. She'd been stripped bare while being strapped down, leaving her naked and bound to the cold metal of the table.

A malicious grin came to his face, replacing the previous serene smile. "I want to see your heart."

The scalpel was brought to her flesh again, dragging down her sternum in a precise line as Diamante growled and tried to arch away from the burning sting it caused. Hot blood spilled out from the incision and pooled at her concave stomach, starved and thin, and began to cool. Jace's thumbs stuck into the long line in her flesh and drew the pale skin apart, revealing the gorey red of muscle that stretched over her sternum. Once more layer to go.

Then he'd have to get his bone saw.

Diamante's breathing was growing erratic as her eyes threatened to roll back into her head, the trembles of her limbs coaxing her pooling blood to spill over her sides and onto the table beneath. It easily spilled over the edge and began a steady stream to the concrete floor. Her vision blurred and fogged, the heaviness in her limbs transitioning into numbness. She tried to curl her toes, but she couldn't even feel them anymore, so she had no clue whether it was actually working or not.

"Stay awake, now, the fun's only just begun!"

The buzzer at the door drew his attention away before he had the chance to begin cutting into her muscles. "Dr. J," the guard's voice called through the metal door, muffled but audible. "Got a visitor."

Jace sighed from above Diamante but pulled away none the less, moving to drop the scalpel and strip the bloody gloves off as he moved for the door. Diamante took the time to rest a moment, blinking her eyes in the hopes of removing the fogginess. If she passed out, he'd just give her a shot of adrenaline or another drug to wake her up again. It was more difficult than she figured, however, as the world began to sway around her prone form.

The doctor dumped his bloody gloves into the bin near the door before he swiped his card through the scanner to open it. "If this is Waller again, I was assured privacy to-"

The words were cut short as the body of the guard dropped through the open door, blood spraying out from his sliced jugular, and nearly took Jace to the ground as a strangled gasp issued from the man. Where the guard had been standing, another man with shock green hair, pasty skin and cherry-red lips was in his pace, the blood from cutting the guard's throat staining the pale skin of his exposed chest.

"Good evening, Doctor," the Joker drawled, stepping into the room and over the dead guard's body. From deeper into the room, a muffled, agonized laugh broke through the silence that had enveloped the suddenly pale, trembling scientist. The Joker's eyes trailed over where Diamante lay, unable to see him from where she was strapped in and her head immobilized. He could see tears trailing from the corner of her eyes, though, and the sight caused his jaw to lock in rage. Her chest was exposed and cut, blood beginning to pool around the table before swirling down a drain beneath it. A long, clean slice down her sternum made his muscles spasm with the need to kill something.

"Y-you…but how—you were-"

Lashing out, the Joker struck the man across the face with a solid backhand, sending him careening backward into one of the metal shelves that lined the wall. "You've been playing with my toys," he accused, wagging a finger before he motioned to one of the men behind him. They were all dressed like the guards of Belle Reve, though the names across their vests were the nicknames in which the Joker called them. "He stays alive," he instructed. "He'll be my present for my Jewel."

The doctor, bleeding from a cut on his forehead, opened his mouth in pointless protest as he was descended upon by the Joker's men.

The Clown himself approached Diamante as another of his guys hauled in the tech that kept Diamante's collar in check. He began on the leather straps, freeing her wrists and torso as he looked down at her. A neat stack of sheets on the nearby counter were soon tossed over her bare body, immediately staining the white with her blood. She was still laughing against the gag, but her eyes were closed as tears coursed down her temples and into her bloody, greasy hair. She was too skinny, her cheekbones too vivid and skin too pasty. "Mia Dia," he whispered softly, reaching out to release the strap across the lower half of her face, growling at the lines that were left in her flesh from how tightly it had pressed down. Her upper lip was cut and a bruise had yet to heal on the left side of her jaw. He could also see mostly healed lacerations where the good doctor had already played.

Only when the tech was forced forward to remove the collar did the Joker lean back, motioning for the remainder of her straps to be removed. Jace was staring at the Joker in awe now, some of his fear bleeding away as he watched the man react to Diamante.

"Tell me, Doctor, you've read my little Jewel's file, yessss?" the Joker sneered, stepping forward with gradual strides, leaving behind boot-prints of Diamante's blood. Dr. Jace nodded, excitement glimmering shortly in his eyes as he was reminded of the woman and her file.

"Yes, indeed I have. She-"

"-is a ripper," the Joker continued, though mostly likely not what the doctor intended to say. Some of the excitement disappeared, his smile faltering as the Joker's grew. "Her favourite thing is the intestines. They're long enough that she's actually strangled some people with their own organs," the Joker explained easily, glancing back at Diamante as though he was remembering something wistfully. "When she's really angry…she takes out the organs one by one, and them removes the limbs, joint by joint—of course, keeping her toy alive for as long as she can." The more the Joker said, the paler the doctor's face became.

The Joker's smile vanished as he lunges forward, getting right into the Doctor's face as he wrapped a ring-endowed hand around the man's throat.

"You see, I really wanna hurtcha. You've been doing very naughty things to my Crown, and I don't take well to someone trying to break what belongs to me." He could feel the doctor trying to swallow against his hand, and tightened his grip in response. "Howeverrr…I can't wait to watch what Diamante's gunna do to ya." The silver grin that spread across the Joker's face was insanity in one expression.

"Boss."

Looking to the man who's spoken, it was the one who'd brought in the tech, who was now holding Diamante's collar in his hands, the chattering of the metal telling them how badly he was shaking. The Joker's smile gradually lessened until it was gone. He stood up in a prowl, approaching the man as he quaked under the Joker's stare. "Put it on," he ordered as his voice dropped into deep, gravelly rage. When the man hesitated, a growl rose up. "Now!"

Jumping in fright, the tech began to careful process of snapping and locking the collar onto his own throat. It was tight due to being sized for Diamante's thin neck, and cut off his air. The Joker grinned, pleased, before he reached for the table that held the controller and looked at it a moment. The tech appeared ready to faint when those icy eyes turned on him again.

The silver of his teeth flash briefly. "I imagine this is gunna hurt."

Pressing the button on the highest setting, the man's back immediately arched as a strangled scream of pain tried to leave his throat. Then he dropped to the floor, the Joker continuing to press the button as he watched the man convulse. Tipping his head to the side as though curious, the smell of burned flesh began to fill the room. Blood poured from the man's nose, out of his mouth, and around the collar that was searing his throat. Finally releasing the button, the Joker tossed the controller back to another of his guys.

"Keep up with that. Hold it 'til he stops twitching. Then hold it a bit longer, just to see if he starts twitching again," he instructed easily before he moved over to Diamante. The sheet covering her was staining with blood in patches, her chest the worse of them, and her eyes were fluttering as she teetered on the edge of consciousness. Her laughing had quieted as her consciousness fled, her delirium going with it. Reaching for her skull, the Joker carefully slipped his hand beneath her head, cushioning it from the metal table, and leaned to press his lips to her ear. "My pretty Jewel," he whispered, staining her skin with red makeup. "Let me see you Sparkle…"

Diamante's breath hitched as her eyes opened blearily, trying to focus on where his voice was coming from. Her hand twitched at her side, still too tired to truly lift up but desperately wanting to seek him out. To see if he was really there.

"Please, please, please, please," he chanted, moving from her ear to ghost along her cheekbone, down to her lips and caress them with the softest kiss. Her head tipped in his direction the slightest bit, before he felt her flesh begin to change. Her pale, emaciated body was replaced with solid diamond, the blood on her flesh making certain areas look like they were made of rubies. The wounds on her body quickly began to heal, bruises fading and lacerations mending and closing. The Joker giggled against her lips as he pulled back enough to watch her eyes open fully, luminous and fully awake.

"Daddy J," she whispered, his grin widening at the soft caress of her breath against his lips. Some of her strength returned, Diamante reached for him desperately. Her arms encircled his neck, delving into green hair, as she took his bottom lip between hers. He returned the favour in kind, nearly hauling her off the table as he pulled her flush against his body, smearing himself with her blood and pinning the sheet between them.

Only when he pulled away again, his red lipstick smeared and eyes dancing with amusement, did Diamante let herself begin to relax as a tired smile came to her lips. "Until you're good as new, you stay like that," he ordered, reaching up to caress the still healing line between her breasts. Diamante nodded obediently before she glanced over his shoulder, her eyes searched the room. She could tell all of the 'guards' were actually the Joker's men, his nicknames for them printed across their chests in white lettering. The doctor was on his knees, hands raised with some of the men holding their guns on him.

"Pumpkin doesn't know I'm here," he whispered theatrically when he realized what she was looking for. "It's a surprise."

Diamante's grin returned before she leaned up to kiss him again. "Let's not keep her waiting, then," she answered. He didn't wait another moment, sweeping her off the table, sheet and all, and turning to his men.

"Someone grab the doctor, he's to be our…humble guest!"

Diamante's eyes glittered at the thought of the doctor coming with them, anticipation warming her expression. Then she let herself relax in the familiar safety of the Joker's arms, her body softening to flesh as the pain from the doctor's experiments faded completely. Her green eyes fell closed as her cheek came to rest on the Joker's shoulder, the smell of coppery blood and makeup wafting off of him. She'd missed that smell.

Exiting the lab that Diamante had been locked inside since returning to Belle Reve, the Joker's men created a barricade around them, guns raised, with Jace being dragged behind them. Diamante just rested her head in the crook of the Joker's cool neck, the hard muscle of his chest and strength of his arms holding her up causing her to smile.

The Joker, arm wrapped around her shoulders, could feel when she began to hum before he heard her. It was soft, and he could barely hear it even though she was inches away from his ear. A grin began to spread across his face, silver teeth glinting in the dingy lights that hung above them. For once, Diamante didn't dread her trip down the halls of Belle Reve.

She knew this was going to be the last time she was forced to travel the disgusting building.

Whenever one of Belle Reve's real guards tried to come at them, the familiar pop of gunfire cut them off each time. It didn't even rattle Diamante's drowsy state, her sleepy humming calming the rage that had been strangling the Joker like a vice since he saw her over the video feeds. Tipping his head to the side, he rested his temple against Diamante's messy hair and soon felt her nudge him back in answer.

Turning her head, Diamante rested her chin on his shoulder to look back. Jace was basically being dragged behind him, not quite fighting but making himself dead weight as he frightfully met Diamante's eyes. A malicious grin spread across her lips as she wrapped her arms tightly around the Joker, leaning herself into him. She'd let herself fall into a depressed belief that he was gone, and she had no one to go to even if she had been able to free herself from Jace and Belle Reve. Instead, she had been rescued by the last person she ever thought she would see again.

Being able to see the halls as they were left behind, Diamante got to watch and count the dead bodies that were left behind, most with bullets littering their bodies—Kevlar or not.

"Our bird's still secure," one of the men say as he came up to Joker, the white lettering across his chest spelling out BOY, which hinted to Diamante that he was probably one of the new guys that the Joker had acquired while she and Harley were in Belle Reve. "Frost is ready for take-off once we're on board."

"Ohhh, goody," the Joker purred before he slowly put Diamante down onto her feet. She was expecting him to want her to make a run for it herself, but he instead picked her up again in a more comfortable position to run with her in his arms. Facing him with her arms around his shoulders and legs like a vice at his waist, the Joker even had a free hand to carry a gun and take out and of the guards his men may miss.

He made absolutely certain the sheet was kept around her body, lest he have to start shooting his own guys. They were new, it would be a pain to have to replace them already.

Pressed front to front with the Joker, Diamante purred sensually in his ear as she pulled his other gun from the holster at his side, silently assuring that she would watch his back. It was heavier than her gun, but she'd shot it a few times before and was confident with her ability to protect him.

"Ready, baby-doll?" the Joker asked quietly, his lips caressing the shell of her ear. Diamante groaned back, tightening her legs around his waist. The deep thrum of his voice was something she had missed so much and it made her desperate to haul him off to a flat surface and proceed to pull off his clothes. Instead, she got a solid hold of his hair and used it to pull his head back enough for her to claim his lips in a biting kiss, smearing the cherry-red lipstick even more.

She couldn't wait to see Harley, to complete the royal set.

Harley was far less happy back in Gotham. The Joker had left with Frost and a bunch of guys, telling her to stay behind and promising that he'd bring back something to cheer her up. She'd scowled and snapped, saying that unless he was bringing back their Crown she was most certainly not going to be happy. He hadn't said anything else, but left Harley pouting on the couch with one of Diamante's coats wrapped around her body. It didn't smell like her anymore; it hadn't even smelled like her when Harley had gotten her hands on it.

Apparently, the Joker had struggled to sleep when his girls were gone—more than Harley had already assumed.

When they'd returned to their home, less Diamante, they were burned and angry, though still trying to embrace the fact that they at least had each other now. The Joker had disappeared elsewhere almost immediately, most likely to break a lot of expensive things to try and relieve some of his rage, while Harley had pulled off her burned clothes while heading for the room she, Dia and the Joker shared.

She'd stopped in the doorway, shoes and shirt already pulled off with the cool air brushing at her exposed torso, when she spotted their bed. It reminded of her the nights she and Diamante would get really dressed up, throwing clothes all over the room as they tried to decide on what they wanted to wear.

While they were gone, the Joker had pulled every single article of their clothes from the closet and tossed it onto the bed, sleeping amongst the smells of Diamante and Harley that lingered on their clothing. The sight of it had left the Queen frozen for a moment before her lip had trembled as her eyes stung, the emotional break threatening. It had been there, lingering on the edge of her control since she'd woken from the wreckage, carried by the Joker from the flames.

It was hard to keep herself together when the Joker and Frost were there, burned and slightly injured, but she did so. Even when they'd tracked the group to they subway, they'd arrived in time to see Diamante with that damned collar snapping into place around her throat. She was barefoot, bloody and bruised, with her clothes beyond repair and a look of such dead and fatigue in her eyes.

Harley had broken down when she saw their bed, piled with her and Diamante's outfits of red, blue and gold. She's stripped down bare and crawled into the pile, the faintest hint of their perfume still clinging to the clothes, along with the metal and blood musk that was left behind from the Joker.

Neither she nor the Joker could bring themselves to put the clothes away; at least, not hers. Harley's outfits steadily returned to their closet, but Diamante's gold and black had become their new comforter as the two remaining lovers had lay beneath. Most nights, the Joker didn't even come to bed, and Harley would usually stay up watching cartoons or going through videos and pictures the girls had taken together when they were bored.

The Joker had come in at one point, Harley wearing Diamante's black-silk robe with some of the other woman's sleep-pants on as well, as a video of Harley's making playing on their flat-screen.

Harley's voice was in the background, talking as though she was giving some grand tour around their home, until it came up Diamante curled up on the couch. Her hair was short and messy, pale face without makeup and the Joker's shirt the only thing she was wearing. It was the day after they'd gotten Diamante, returning home with the diamond woman.

"And this is-!...uhm…our jewel! This is out pretty little jewel," Harley had been shouting over the recording, the camera shaking as the Queen had leapt onto the other end of the couch, soon face by side with Diamante as she held the camera in front of the two women. Harley had been focusing on the camera, grinning widely, as Diamante had looked to the side at Harley in fascination.

The recording paused on the women's faces, side by side, with Diamante watching the Queen at her side.

The next one had been after they'd given her a name, but before she'd saved Harley when she'd crashed the car. The Joker had been getting a bit more possessive as time went by and had ordered Diamante to stay with either him or Harley. He'd already shot one guy that thought she was just a hooker hired for the night, trying to get Diamante to leave with him somewhere. Of course, Diamante had just gone to the Joker and curled into his side as she declared to the clown 'I'm not a hooker.' The expression that had come to his face had all his men staggering back a step before he'd pulled his gun and shot the offender without batting an eye.

The video was of Diamante, appearing as bored as hell, lying on her side across the back of the couch. The Joker was sitting directly in front of her, looking over one of his new shipments. She'd looked like a prize hung above him, getting an excited snicker from Harley as she sauntered her way into the room. "I'm taking little Dia shopping!" she'd declared, once more looking over Diamante's exposed body in some of Harley's shorts and the Joker's shirt.

"No."

The growled response had been enough for Diamante to smile before she'd leaned forward to rest her chin on his bare shoulder.

"I'm gunna have to start walking around here naked, and then you'll need to hire new guys," she'd reasoned. Harley had giggled again, though the Joker was scowling in displeasure, before he'd shouted for Frost to take the girls out.

The Joker had stolen the remote from Harley as he sat at the edge of their bed, rewinding the video and pausing it to still on the image of Diamante's pale body draped behind him, her body leaning forward enough for her chin to rest on his shoulder. He hadn't looked at her back then, but now he could see that she'd been giving him a look of pouty-adoration, leaning on one hand just next to his hip, close enough he'd have felt her body heat.

A few days later, he'd left with Frost and Harley was alone.

Of course she'd take that so well. Standing in the empty kitchen in only her underwear and one of Diamante's halter tops, Harley glared down at the empty bottle of whisky that she'd raided from the bar the night before. It was an unspoken rule in their home that they moderated their drinking—none of them reacted well when they got shitfaced drunk, Harley worst of all since Diamante and the Joker seemed able to burn through alcohol like it was water, modified humans as they were.

Her cheeks warmed with the influence of the alcohol and anger, her thoughts taunting her about how they all left her. How she should have known all along that he'd leave her for someone else. Snatching the glass she'd been using from the counter, Harley released a shriek of rage as she turned and threw it with all of her strength at the far wall, beside the entrance to the kitchen. Glass exploded like sparks in all directions, hitting the floor and counters and tinkling like bells.

The rage wasn't gone, though—it wasn't enough.

The bottle soon joined the glass, creating a larger explosion than the tumbler. This started a chain reaction, each shriek of breaking glass relieving just a bit more of Harley's pent up anger and self-hatred. Coffee mugs, drinking glasses, wine glasses, plates, bowls; whatever she could get her hands on was thrown at the wall, shattering and sending glass or porcelain across every surface of the kitchen. Her feet were in danger of being sliced up if she dared try to move from her spot, her legs already bleeding from small nicks caused by flying shards.

Her hand caught the last whisky tumbler as she pivoted on her feet, throwing the glass as she spun. In the same instant the tumbler left her fingers, her eyes came to rest on the figure now standing in the doorway. Diamante was fast enough to shift her body into diamond and turn her head to the side, the tumbler shattering against the side of her head.

Harley's hand was still outstretched as she stared, mouth agape, at the woman standing a couple of yards away from her. Diamante shook her head, shards of glass falling from her hair, before she looked up to Harley again. The crush of glass sounded a moment before the Joker stepped around the corner with a faint scowl, his eyes taking in the destruction that Harley had just done.

Just as it had when she first returned with the Joker, Harley could feel the well of emotion tighten in her chest before her bottom lip trembled visibly. Diamante, still diamond, stepped easily across the glass-littered floor, more of a march than a walk. She was only wearing the Joker's deep purple shirt, her bare legs exposed with majority of the buttons undone, leaving the soft valley between her breasts exposed and teasing along the swell of her breasts that kept the skirt parted. Harley could see the faint stain of blood.

Harley hiccupped against the urge to sob, "Dia!"

Solid, warm hands gripped her thighs and lifted, protecting her from the glass on the floor, as Harley's hands immediately fisted in Diamante's bloody hair. All the self-hate bled away as she caught Diamante's diamond lips, pulling the woman in as close as she could. Standing amongst broken glass, legs wrapped tight around Diamante's narrow hips, Harley began to giggle and cry against Diamante's lips as she clawed at the woman's back.

"Shh, baby clown," Diamante whispered against Harley's lips, feeling her breath hitch against her strangled laughs. "I've got you."